Not at all safe: the Nerf Marauder Longsword

Not too long ago, we took a look at Nerf's new line of foam swords... and we liked what we saw. Nerf has since expanded the line with a new long sword made of firmer material, looking more like it came out of a Zelda title, and with a much longer reach as well as a heavier weight.

You can find the swords between $15 and $20, and if you're a kid at heart I defy you to pick one of these up, feel the heft, and then put it down without walking a set to the cashier. These things are the kind of toys we dreamed about growing up. The one problem? They hurt.

My son received a set of these for Christmas or, as my wife explains, I bought two and allow him to use one. Now that the weather has been warmer we've been taking them down to the park to learn the fine art of father-son sword fighting, and it usually begins civil enough... until someone takes a sword to the knee or face. Then the crying starts, and he waits patiently for me to put myself back together.

Getting hit with one of these things is far from a love tap, and after a few hours of play there's not a mark on them. I'd be afraid of playing with these with any of my more rambunctious adult friends; we had enough problems with things beginning with wooden practice swords in college and then ending in fists.

Great products, just be aware of what you're getting into. This hit harder than the first round of swords, but aren't quite up to the task of home defense. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to hit the toy store, I heard a not rumor Nerf was working on a battle axe...

My dog ate my first Marauder Longsword. I keep the second one put up. We have like 3 smaller Katana-style ones, 1 Marauder, 1 Shield, 1 Giant Axe. The axe is fun because you can't help but throw it. We also have like 6 light sabers and 2 Nerf revolvers, when lots of kids are over it can be crazy. The Marauder is mine though.

When one gets right down to it, all physical objects (toys or otherwise) carry potential dangers. No matter how soft a material Nerf products are made from, it's important that the face be defined as an "off limits" area. Ask anyone who has been to the emergency room with a Nerf dart stuck to their eyeball.

Having said that, however, there are far worse toys you could give your child. Anyone remember the original lawn darts? I do. As does my foot. Though I'm fairly certain the ensuing tetanus shot hurt much worse.

When I was about 10 years old, a friend and I went out in the back yard (which was huge) and threw the original lawn darts as hard as we could, overhand, to see who could throw one further. We were standing side by side, not throwing towards each other, so we figured we were being safe as there was zero chance of somebody sporting a dashing new forehead decoration. All went well until a particularly high throw coincided with a particularly strong gust of wind. The airborn dart, about 40 feet off the ground, took a sharp turn to the northwest and embedded itself in the side of the house.

Having said that, however, there are far worse toys you could give your child. Anyone remember the original lawn darts? I do. As does my foot. Though I'm fairly certain the ensuing tetanus short hurt much worse.

Uh, you're supposed to be on the same side as the person that's throwing them, not throw them at each other. It seemed obvious enough.

Uh, you're supposed to be on the same side as the person that's throwing them, not throw them at each other. It seemed obvious enough.

You're assuming a little kid is going to follow instructions to the letter. A laughable concept at best. Pain, on the other hand, is a great motivator and I assure you I never made the same mistake again!

Well... I suppose it's not as bad as the old "bamboo" (what we called great chunks of round wood we'd score from somewhere) rods my brother and I used to "play" fight with... now those were some nasty bruises

This all started as 'weekend warrior' groups getting together, and NERF found out about it and capitilized on it. I've actually helped friends make these at home, and that was back in the late 90's. Theirs consisted of a PVC pipe coated with foam rubber or styrofoam and then coated with Duct Tape of various colors (silver for 'contact' edges like blades, and black and brown for hafts and handles). Cross-guards are pure foam in a roll taped against the shaft. Shields are usually frisbees or plastic barrel bottoms cut out and then mounted with a roll of foam around the edge.

These are basically a high-tech upgrade to those homemade swords, daggers, axes and polearms.

Quick disclaimer: I am not angry or upset with Ars or this article. Nor am I attacking any one person or group, so please don't take this the wrong way. In general, I appreciate the warning more than anything. With that said, here are my 2 cents...

Kids have been playing with toys in ways that could potentially hurt them just like this for decades. Yes, they get hurt, they cry, they wipe the tears, and then the best part happens. That is, they learn from the experience and they make choices. Maybe they will choose to not change anything and continue playing. Maybe they will choose to play a little safer. Maybe they will choose to stop playing with that particular toy entirely. Who knows? It doesn't really matter. What does matter is that you are allowing them to freely think, learn, and make the choice themselves.

That doesn't mean that I am supporting the idea of no parental supervision or intervention because obviously the line needs to be drawn somewhere, but sometimes it really is ok to allow our kids to potentially get hurt due to the choices they make as long as it is within reason.

I think that's exactly the point of this article. This is FUN. Just know what you're getting into as a parent and don't be surprised by having one kid balling his eyes out with a bruise on his face on a Saturday morning.

With products like these able to be successful on the market, I'm optimistic that parents might be getting less obsessive with absolute safety than they were maybe 10-or-so years ago.

The amount of pain you can inflict is slightly above the threshold that I usually associate with Nerf. I'm not saying it's a bad product, but I think Nerf is doing their brand a disservice by selling this.

The amount of pain you can inflict is slightly above the threshold that I usually associate with Nerf. I'm not saying it's a bad product, but I think Nerf is doing their brand a disservice by selling this.

I think it's great, especially for those us who grew up with Nerf guns and now have kids of our own.

Yes, parental guidance is definitely required. But it's a better alternative to kids beating each other with stakes (done that) or wooden swords (my dad was a geek and a woodworker .. good times).

Just for historical reference, the folks who used to go about trying to bash other people with swords usually wore hard objects about their bodies. This became known as armor. (The combatants during training would say "arrrrrr - more" instead of "arrrrrr - stop" the way they did before armor.)

At home my son and I have 2 Mauraders, 2 of the original short swords, and 1 warlock battle axe. They are fantastic. It is true that they can hurt if you swing full force, but they won't normally do any real damage, and the answer to that is not to swing too hard. A jacket can also go a long way to further softening the blow if you keep it above the belt and below the face. I think they are great fun.

The Nerf swords and swords that gamers (LARPers) use may look cool to a kid, but they are not that safe compared to the alternative. Anyone that wants to have some fun bashing each other with swords and walk away unscathed should check out the sport of Chanbara. The equipment for Chanbara was made to allow martial artists (adults and kids) to do full contact weapons fighting (usually based on Japanese styles) with no injury. I've got a set of swords (ActionFlex from Samurai Sports) that have been used in a dojo for around 6 or 7 years now and still look great. Kids can swing them at full strength with follow through and with no harm. Only the strongest adults need to hold back and even then just by a little bit. The only protective gear needed is a helmet to protect eyes, ears, and throat, but a cup is also a wise choice.

I should warn you, that this equipment is more expensive than Nerf... a set with helmet will probably set you back $40 to $60 ea for the swords and between $40 to $70 ea for head gear.

mdt, I still have some of the swords I made that way. It was critical to tape a penny over the end of the PVC pipe. Not sure why, actually. We called it boffing. Really. It was a blast. Faces were off-limit, but there still were injuries. I remember once using duct tape, a cloak and a couple boffing swords to splint a leg. The folks at the ER were a bit astounded when a woman in Robin Hood garb and a sword splint was carried in by a guy wearing a brief loincloth and mocs and another guy in full Renaissance slashed sleeve finery.

Honestly, no matter how hard this thing is it can't be worse than the solid pine swords that they sell at most Renaissance faires. It always amazes me how many parents buy those things for really young kids. Those things can, seriously, break a knee-cap.

Man oh man, we (cousins and brothers) used to wallop on each other using fallen tree limbs and dirt clods. We used precious trash can lids for defense, which were generally like flags—there were only three of them, 8-12 of us (depending on the day), and a huge frenzy to get to the lids and fight back the opposing horde.

And you needed them.

The sticks didn’t hurt directly, but those damn nubs and offshoots left scratches all over our arms, legs, and necks (sometimes faces). Oh, and someone always got into trouble with Mom for going home with a new set of holes in their shirt.

Of course, the alternative game involved Nerf guns. How nice it would have been to have these swords in our arsenals..